Interaction imaging with amplitude-dependence force spectroscopy

Abstract

Knowledge of surface forces is the key to understanding a large number of processes in fields ranging from physics to material science and biology. The most common method to study surfaces is dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM). Dynamic AFM has been enormously successful in imaging surface topography, even to atomic resolution, but the force between the AFM tip and the surface remains unknown during imaging. Here we present a new approach that combines high-accuracy force measurements and high-resolution scanning. The method, called amplitude-dependence force spectroscopy (ADFS), is based on the amplitude dependence of the cantilever's response near resonance and allows for separate determination of both conservative and dissipative tip-surface interactions. We use ADFS to quantitatively study and map the nano-mechanical interaction between the AFM tip and heterogeneous polymer surfaces. ADFS is compatible with commercial atomic force microscopes and we anticipate its widespread use in taking AFM toward quantitative microscopy.